Middle, High School Students Invited to Compete in Computational Linguistics Olympiad

Competition set for Jan. 30 at Minnesota State Mankato.

Mankato, Minn. – The North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad for high school and middle school students will be held on Thursday, Jan. 30, at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

The open competition challenges students to solve linguistic puzzles, think logically and decipher texts and rare languages in a three-hour examination.

The exam will be from 9 a.m. to noon in Wissink Hall 291 on the Minnesota State Mankato campus. No registration or participation fee is required for area students, and no prior computational linguistics knowledge or experience is necessary.

“It’s a competition where middle and high school students can explore puzzles connected to language, logic and computation,” said Computer Science faculty member Rebecca Bates. “Two of our past participants have scored in the top 100 nationwide.”

Top scorers can compete in a computational linguistics invitational Thursday, March 13, and winners of that event will represent North America at the International Linguistic Olympiad.
Students who wish to register or learn more – and practice problems – may visit http://www.cset.mnsu.edu/cs/naclo. Walk-in registrations are accepted if students arrive by 8:40 a.m., although they are encouraged to register in advance at the website.